Spencer meets Junior
by SalSassy
Summary: One-shot about our resident genius getting the surprise of a lifetime in the midst of a bad situation.


The low-level buzzing of chatter surrounded him in a comforting bubble. The smell of the strong black coffee, sweetened by sugar, had the ability to lift his mood no matter what the cause was. He looked up when Garcia motioned for him to come to the roundtable room. When he entered the room, the looks that Hotch and Garcia were giving him spoke volumes. He didn't say anything and everyone else seemed oblivious to everything. Garcia stood up and grabbed the remote to start the briefing.

"Okay my crime fighters, we are taking yet another trip to Sin city. There have been 5 killings over the past 7 weeks." "Why is LVPD just now calling us in?" Prentiss asked as she swiped through the tablet to examine the case file. Garcia continued, "They couldn't link the bodies at first. The first three victims were only linked to the case yesterday because the bodies turned up in Reno, Elko, and West Wendover. All the victims were students at Arizona College's Las Vegas location. They all lived within a reasonable distance from the campus." "Has local PD got any leads? Evidence? Suspects?" Garcia hesitated, making everyone zero in on her, and looked at Hotch with pleading eyes before saying, "They were extremely reluctant to even call us in. The governor actually extended the invitation and we will be under a microscope." Rossi put the tablet down, "Are we missing something here?" Hotch stood up and took the remote from Garcia. All eyes were on him as he got ready to address the entire room. "LVPD has a suspect. That suspect is the reason why they didn't want to call us in. She refused to talk to them, but they believe that she's the killer." Reid sat up straight in his chair, "So, who is she?"

Hotch clicked a button that pull up a photo. The photo was of a gorgeous brunette with blue eyes and long black hair. She was relatively young but her facial features and symmetry drew Reid in. "This is LVPD's suspect. Her name is Spencer Reid Jr. and Reid, she's your daughter." Reid shook his head vigorously, "That's impossible. I don't have any children. This has to be a mistake." Garcia looked at him with a sullen expression, "I'm sorry Wonderboy, but it's not. She donates blood often and LVPD got a DNA sample. They ran it in the system and the partial match and genetic markers identified you as her father." "No. No. I don't believe it." Hotch put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry Reid but she's your daughter. She changed her last name two years ago when she got emancipated. Her last name used to be Archer. Records indicate that she is working two jobs and putting herself through college." Reid couldn't breathe and stood to try and calm his pulse. "Archer? It has to be Lila. We slept together one time but I swear…she never told me that she got pregnant. How could she do this? Why would she keep my daughter from me?"

Reid stormed out of the room and JJ got up to go after him, but Morgan stopped her and went. Prentiss looked at the screen before asking out loud, "Why did she get emancipated? And why is LVPD so convinced that she killed five women in her age bracket?" Garcia shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know but I will find out." Hotch looked at his watch, "Wheels up in 30. Hopefully Morgan is getting somewhere with Reid. If his daughter did do this, then he will need to see for himself just to accept it. if she didn't, then we need to find out who did." Morgan pulled Reid into his office. He could tell how hurt Reid was and it broke his heart. "Pretty Boy, I am so sorry. We will get to the bottom of this. But here is one question. If she didn't know you or anything about you, why would she take your last name? Spencer I think that your daughter did her research on you and chose to take your name. Maybe she wants to know you but just doesn't know how to broach that topic. Something went down between her and her mom. I don't know any 17-year-olds that moved out on their own and work two jobs to put themselves through college. She is already a prodigy just like her dad. She'll have a Master's before her eighteenth birthday. You did good kid." Reid hung his head, "I didn't do anything." "You don't really believe that do you? Come on man. Let's go solve this case and meet your daughter."

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The team touched down in Las Vegas and split up. Reid was working on victimology with Rossi, trying his best to ignore the murmurs and pointing that local officers were aiming in his direction. He couldn't stop staring at the picture of his daughter. She was stunning and she looked so much like him. Something that Morgan said was nagging at him _Did she do her research on him?_ He grabbed his phone and called Garcia. "Hey Reid." "Hey I need you to look into everything that Spencer did after she got emancipated. I need all addresses that you can link her to as well as banking. Also, I need an address for Lila. Something's happened or is happening and she probably knows what." Reid heard Garcia tapping away, "Uh-oh." "What's the uh-oh Garcia?" Reid waited impatiently for her answer as everyone came in the conference room. "Reid, your kid is like scary smart. She has a digital footprint but it's protected. I mean like—CIA—protected. There's a firewall and a virus applied to any digital information regarding her. I've never seen a firewall this powerful. I have a few addresses, but it's probably because she didn't care if anyone found them. The emancipated court case is sealed and when I unsealed it, most of the details were still left out. She has a P.O. Box and a couple of work addresses. You guys may find more from the college or her employers. It seems like she doesn't want to be tracked or found, which could be a reason why she's a suspect."

Prentiss looked at her phone, "I've got the addresses. How about Reid and I take Lila's, Rossi and Tara you guys can have the P.O. Box and the East Las Vegas job, JJ you and Morgan can take the college, and Hotch I guess that leaves you with the Summerlin job." Everybody took their assigned location and Hotch gave Emily an all too familiar look. Reid had already gone to the SUV, "I'll look after him Hotch." Morgan and JJ got to college and went to the admissions office. "Hello. I'm Agent Jareau and this is Agent Morgan. We're from the FBI. We need to see everything you have on Spencer Reid Jr. please." "SJ? Yeah sure. She graduated with her Bachelor's three years ago. She was the youngest person in our graduating class. She's pursuing her dual Master's in Forensic Psychiatry and Criminology. She knows practically everybody on campus and she does campus tours for incoming freshman and transfers. What else could you possibly need on SJ? Is she okay?" "Is there anyone else that she spends a lot of time with on campus? Do you know any of her friends?" The young woman bit her lip and pulled out a notepad.

"SJ knows a lot of people but she hangs out with these two people the most. She spends a lot of time with me and Bernadette Lake. That's my apartment address and that's Bernie's. She goes to Cal Tech but she comes back here a lot. Bernie may know more than me because they go way back but there's no guarantee that she'll actually be forthcoming but you can try." "Thank you." Hotch arrived at the Summerlin job and was taken into the owner's office. "Agent, I'll be frank with you. I'm aware that SJ is a suspect in 5 murders but I can assure you that she didn't do it. The lead officer has an axe to grind with her." "Why is that?" "Two years ago, his daughter worked here and she was caught by SJ stealing from patients. If that wasn't bad enough, she was using drugs. When I found out, I fired her but not before the press caught wind of it. That man has hated her ever since."

Prentiss and Reid pulled up outside of Lila's home address. The home was in a decent part of town that seemed to be going downhill fast. Prentiss reached over, "Reid are you okay? I can do this alone—" "No I need to. I need to look in her face when she tells me why I never knew that I had a daughter." Prentiss remained quiet but got out the car with him and approached the home. They ran the doorbell several times before someone came to the door. A smelly white guy with a beard came to the door. His demeanor told them that he was a junkie. "Where's Lila?" Reid bit out harshly. "Who's asking?" Prentiss showed her badge, "FBI. Where is she?" Reid pushed him aside and entered the home. Prentiss was hot on his trail, with her hand perched on her sidearm, until they found Lila. She was half-awake and her arm revealed that she'd probably just injected drugs into her system. She smelled pretty bad, but Reid walked over to her anyways and pulled her to a standing position. She could barely stand up, "Emily help me get her in the bathroom." She grumbled to herself but helped him anyways. The cold shower woke Lila up. "Lila look at me." She struggled to look at him but when her eyes focused, she had a wide smile. "Spencer you came back to me. I knew that you'd come back." "Lila, why didn't you tell me? Why wouldn't you tell me that you had my child?" Lila's smile disappeared and she pushed him off of her. "Go to hell Spencer. It's my body! I didn't have to tell you anything." "She's my daughter!" Prentiss pulled Reid back. "Reid we have to go. Now! This is going to end badly if we don't leave right now."

Prentiss had to all but drag him back to the SUV. Her phone started ringing, "Yeah Hotch. Um—no Lila wasn't home. We're headed back to the station now. Her phone pinged where? Okay we're on our way." "Emily why did you lie for me? And where are we going?" "Spencer I know what it's like to want answers but I also understand what it's like to try and get personal answers while on the job. It never ends well. Hotch said that Spencer's phone pinged in a general area about 20 minutes from here. he gave us a specific section to check out so that's where we're going." The ride was mostly silent, a silence that gave Reid time to reflect on his actions. Prentiss stopped the SUV and Reid looked out the window. "Why are we near Bennington?" "Huh?" "The facility that my mom lives in." "Oh uh this was the section Hotch gave us to search." "Do you mind if we go there first? Garcia said that Spencer does really good with not being found. Do you think that her phone pinging in this area is a coincidence?" They headed to Bennington and the receptionist immediately recognized him. "Hi Dr. Reid. I was just about to call you." "You were? Why?" "Oh I was wondering if Diana was getting a visitor today before she went on a day trip. I didn't get an answer the first time I called and I was going to try you." He was extremely confused, "Called who?" "Your daughter. She been visiting Diana everyday for the past year. Between you and I, Diana loves it and looks forward to it every morning. If she's not coming today, then I'm sure she'd be just as happy to see you. She's in her room. You can head back there if you want." "Thank you."

Reid's mind was racing as he and Prentiss made the slow walk to his mother's room. She looked up from reading and her eyes lit up. "Spencer. This is a wonderful surprise. I wasn't expecting you." "Who where you expecting?" Diana froze, not knowing how to answer the question, and opted to remain quiet. The sound of high heels clicking on tile captured Emily's attention and within seconds, a brunette turned the corner and entered the bedroom. She wasn't looking up, so she didn't see them, and immediately started talking. "Nana, sorry I'm late but—" the girl stopped talking immediately and stared at Reid. Diana was afraid that they would start fighting so, she rushed over to granddaughter and pulled her into a tight hug. "SJ, sweetheart—" "It's fine nana. This isn't how I planned on meeting you but here we are. Hi, I'm your daughter, SJ." Prentiss sent a text to the team stating that they found SJ. Reid and SJ went out into the hallway. "You've been visiting my mom?" "She's my grandmother. Do I not have a right to visit her? Look I know that all you have been looking for me. I didn't kill anyone." "So why are you a suspect? Why won't you at least talk to the police to clear your name?"

She chuckled bitterly, "I am a suspect because Sargent Boswell hates me. I do the right thing and not cover for his pill-popping thief of a daughter and I become public enemy #1. Why would I talk to them when they've never listened before?" SJ stopped talking and studied his facial expression, "You don't know do you?" "Know what?" "You need to call your team here. I'll talk to all of you but not LVPD. You have questions and it's about time you get answers." SJ, Reid, and Prentiss waited in one of the common areas as the team came in one-by-one. Even after they were all present, SJ mentioned that she was waiting for someone. Her friend, Bernadette, came waltzing in and immediately stopped in her tracks. She looked at SJ before turning around. SJ grabbed her arm but she yanked it away, "Don't you know who they are SJ?" "Yeah I do. This is not the time. I'm basically on the hook for 5 murders that I didn't commit, so can you please just defrost your cold shoulder for the moment?" She glared at her best friend, "Fine but only for you." The two young women walked back into the room, "This is my friend Bernie and she's going to help me show you guys that I didn't do this." Bernie politely waved at all the agents and took a seat at the opposite end of the table next to SJ. Hotch informed them that he was contacting their analyst; Garcia's face popped up on the laptop that was next to Hotch, but her eyes were focused on the other end of the room. "Bernadette? Is that you?"

All eyes went to her but she simply dismissed the woman, "Don't address me. Talk to them not me." Garcia looked ready to cry but played it off. SJ stood up, "I guess I'll start at the beginning. The reason why you guys can't access anything is because Bernie and I worked very hard to make that happen", she motioned to Bernie, who started typing away, "Bernie is unlocking all information about me right now. My dad didn't know about me because my mom wanted it that way. She admitted to me that she sabotaged the condom that they used in order to purposely get pregnant. I don't know if she was doing it before, but I noticed that my mom was using drugs when I was about 8. She was pretty high functioning at the time but it's gotten progressively worse through the years. I got emancipated to protect us both. I needed to get away from her; she needs to hit bottom before she'll get help. Me being around to pick up the pieces and cover for her only delays that process. I have two jobs to take care of myself. I got the East Vegas job to pay for an experimental medication for my grandmother. She's been on it for 5 months and she's been on the mend. She rarely has an episode and that means a lot to me. I pay for it because it's really expensive and she didn't want my dad to know."

"Bennington would have told me." "They didn't have a reason to. After my 10th time visiting her, she asked that I be added to her file. I wasn't trying to deceive you, I was just trying to help. I found out about my dad when I was cleaning up my mom's old place that she got kicked out of." She paused, "Bernie. Open it." The team was looking at a picture of a little boy. "I left my mom because of him. This is Slater, my little brother and your son. When my mom got pregnant with him, I knew something wasn't right. She wasn't dating anybody but I was 10 and figured that I was wrong. About 5 years ago, I had a family tree to do for my science class. My mom wouldn't give me straight answers so I got a home DNA test. I know that it was wrong to take her credit card but I needed to know. Slater's DNA test let me know that we had the same mother AND father. I knew that she'd done something so I confronted her. She said that you didn't love her or us. I had to get Slater away from her." SJ turned her back and took deep breaths to calm herself. "I took the brunt of everything to protect my little brother. He worships the ground she walks on and I didn't want to ruin that image of her for him. She's bipolar and went off her meds three years ago. Her mood swings got worse, then she added a fentanyl and morphine cocktail to the mix. It was only a matter of time before she hurt him or someone else. I wasn't going to take that risk. I worked hard to prove my stability to the courts, and by some miracle it worked. I have full custody of Slater but my mom gets visitation once a month."

"Is that why you won't give an alibi? Because you're still protecting Lila?" Reid asked his daughter. "Yes. She's still my mom. She needs help. Even though I moved out to protect Slater, I just can't stop loving her." "Where were you when these women were killed?" "When the first two were killed, I was at a panel in San Diego on victimology. During the last three, I was searching the streets for her. Her visitation with Slater was the day before yesterday but I couldn't find her. I didn't say anything to Sargent Boswell because when I was downtown, I saw his daughter. She's still on drugs but now she's injecting herself. I didn't want to make an already bad situation worse. Me being a suspect doesn't make any sense." "Did you have any issues with the women that died?" Hotch asked her.

"Issues? Sure. I caught an assault charge 2 and ½ years ago but it was dismissed." "What happened?" Rossi asked her. Bernie started talking, "There was this guy on campus a while back. He was from Belize and long story short—they were playing a game of Triple Dog. Triple Dog is essentially a dare game where the consequences of saying no to the dares are usually worse than just doing it." SJ took over, "Their group dare was to lie down in the street while a car was coming. He was driving when they did the dare. To avoid them he swerved…and hit a pregnant woman. Her baby died on impact but it took her 3 slow days to die. Her husband blew his brains out the same day. It circulated around campus fast and I went to confront them. They just laughed and acted as if three people dying was humorous. I lost my cool." No one responded for a moment, but Reid's lips quirked in a half-smile. He looked at his daughter, "SJ is it possible that this guy is our murderer?" "It's not possible, it's probable. There is one more thing that you need to know Sargent Boswell has another daughter. She was apart of that Triple Dog group and so was his second-in-command's, Detective Flynn, daughter. Diego is a good person, but this destroyed him. He probably feels that killing them rights his wrongs. I've been watching the news, the last two people from that group are the ringleaders and the daughters of the cops you're working with." "Can you help us? You might be the only person that can get through to him" Rossi pointed out.

Everyone could tell that Reid was pissed but he knew that they needed her assistance. The team was successful in bringing down Diego Ortega with no more bloodshed. He was looking at life in prison but he went quietly. SJ talked him down and the two potential victims came clean to their fathers. They would also be looking at jail time for their original involvement. The team was saying their goodbyes to SJ and Bernie, "Dad wait." Reid stopped and turned around. SJ reached out to pull him into a hug, "I'm sorry that she broke your heart by not telling you about us. Please don't hate her. I know that it will take time but she's not a bad person…she's just in a bad place." He hugged her back tightly. "How did I get an amazing daughter?" "You're an amazing man, that's how. But—I do have one more thing for you." He pulled away from her and she looked over his shoulder to the bus pulling away from the curb. "Daddy!"

Reid kneeled down just before his 8-year-old little boy gave him a crushing hug. SJ looked on with tears in her eyes. "This is the moment I've been waiting for." Reid stood and hugged both of his children. "Slater and I have already talked and when this school year is over for him, we are moving to the East Coast to be closer to you. Don't even argue. I can finish the last of my classes online. You've missed enough, so we need to fix that." Reid had no words but he was extremely happy. The team felt the moment tugging at their heart strings. Slater and SJ saw them off before going into the apartment that they lived in. Bernie stuck around and picked at the label on the bottle of water that was in her hands. SJ had already put Slater to bed and was getting ready to start a term paper. "Bernie, it's time for you to let go." "I can't do that." "You don't want to. There's a difference." "She walked out! She couldn't cut it as a parent." SJ put the computer down. "Bernie, look at me. You have no idea how hard it was for her to admit that she couldn't give you the life you deserved. That took balls. You and I both know that if she'd stayed, she probably would have messed up big time and you'd resent her to this day. She didn't leave you on the streets. She left you with your father. Bernie, your mom was in a bad place…at least she owned it and protected you from the fallout. It's time to drop the rock. You only get one mother. Fix it before it's too late."

4 months later

Slater was mesmerized by how big the FBI building was. He spoke to everyone he saw. SJ pressed the button in the elevator for the 6th floor. She exited the elevator and saw Garcia. "Well hello there you gorgeous mini-Reid and you equaly handsome carbon copy." "Is my dad around?" "Yeah. He's in the bullpen." They walked into the bullpen and Slater ran over to Reid. "Hi daddy." "Hey buddy" SJ hugged him and pulled a key out of her pocket. "I have a place near Georgetown and this is copy of my key. You can come by anytime but please call first." Reid chuckled, "You said you instead of we." "Well, I am a young adult that needs my privacy and freedom. Slater wants to live with you and I agreed. Of course, he has a room at my place but the two of you need male, father-son bonding." SJ was temporarily deaf to the chatter because she felt a presence behind her. She turned around and locked eyes with Bernie, who was walking up to an unsuspecting Garcia, and nodded her head. Bernie got Garcia's attention, "Mom…I think it's time we talk." Garcia looked between SJ and Bernie as her eyes filled with tears.


End file.
